Load bearing walls?

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Kaine1985

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Hi there !

Im currently in the process of building my basement (unfinished when i bought the house) and I would like to get some more sq/ft out of the basement by moving the walls that the builder set up for the utility room. These walls have only drywall on one side and exposed on the other. I see no metal supports within them.

Please refer to the drawing I have attached for a floor plan of the basement. You will see the direction of the floor joints running east/west and the braces (bulkheads?) that are installed with metal supports under them. Please note the south brace goes all the way to the south foundation wall.

Can i remove the walls for the utilitiy room or are they load bearing walls?
Any thoughts/advice/questions would be greatly appreciated.

Kaine

load bearing walls.jpg
 
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Welcome to the site.
Some things to look for. Most times the concrete curbs for the barring walls were installed with the foundation and the floor was put in later and you can see a crack on each side of the wall. Barring walls are bolted down most of the time. Barring walls have floor joist landing on them or joining on them. If the wall has a wall directly above it, it maybe a barring wall. If the wall has 2 or 3 extra studs nailed together with solid blocking from the top of the wall to the floor sheeting above that would be a barring point for extra load from above.
The wall around the stair case are usually barring walls but if the only hold up the floor smetimes they are put in on top of the floor but should not be removed for obveois reasons.
Have a look and let us know what you find.
I hope that's helpfull.
 
An additional thought . . . You do not indicate the joist alignment or separation. That would be helpful to understanding the area you want to remove. What is above the walls you want to remove can also be a great clue. Are there partition walls above? Is there a ridge on the roof centered on your drwaing and running left to right?

The "metal support" is a post, yes? The brace is a what?

This information could be very helpful.
 

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